Pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes in a variety of forms have conventionally been known and used for labels, medical care, cosmetics, decoration, masking, industries, and other various applications. The adhesive tape used for medical care is in a form of a patch preparation such as a poultice, a plaster, an adhesive bandage, a surgical tape, and a tape preparation, and usually applied onto a skin, a mucous membrane, or the like.
Such an adhesive tape usually comprises a support and an adhesive agent layer provided on one surface of the support, and a release sheet releasably attached to the adhesive agent layer. The adhesive tape, after production, may be cut into an appropriate size and distributed and sold in the state of being individually contained in a package for hygienic and physical protection. In this case, at the time of use thereof, the adhesive agent layer is applied onto a portion for application after tearing the package to remove the adhesive tape therefrom, and release the release sheet to expose the adhesive agent layer.
A problem that occurs at the time of use in some cases is difficulties in releasing the release sheet. That is, because the release sheet is usually thin and soft, it is difficult to handle, and it may take some time to release the release sheet. At the time of use of the adhesive tape, the release sheet and the package are turned into a waste after use.
Then, a pressure-sensitive adhesive tape package described in Patent Literature 1 has been proposed in the related art. The package is a package in which an adhesive tape is bent into two such that an adhesive agent layer faces outwardly, the two-folded adhesive tape is covered with a release sheet so as to sandwich the adhesive tape inside of the release sheet, and the periphery of the release sheet is sealed. In this configuration, the release sheet functions as a package, and thus the package needed in the related art can be eliminated.
Moreover, to expose only a half of the adhesive agent layer when the front portion of the release sheet is pulled off from the rear portion thereof to open the package, means for temporarily attaching the half located on the front side of the two-folded adhesive tape to the rear portion of the release sheet is provided. Thereby, application to a portion for application is easy because when the package is opened, the adhesive tape folded in two is held by the front portion of the release sheet and the half on the front side of the adhesive agent layer is exposed.